Chapter 297
In front of the "Gate of Holiness".
The Efnelle students, who had completed their dispatch mission in the Neutral Zone, were standing in a long line to return to the Holy Federation.
Lete and Lilinet were also waiting for their turn.
"Our team was really lucky in many ways!"
Lilinet spoke cheerfully.
Originally, since they had lost in a direct confrontation with student Keyzen, their dispatch score should have been drastically reduced.
However, because their leader, "Figaro", had caused a horrific incident in the Neutral Zone, Efnelle had taken a stance of completely denying any association with him.
Naturally, a gag order regarding the mission itself had been issued to Lilinet and her teammates. Lete had also warned them to watch their words.
"Well, still, coming down to the surface this time really taught me a lot! It's like realizing I was a frog living above the clouds? Next time, I'll make sure I never lose to the necromancers again and work hard on my faith… Sister Lete! Are you even listening to me right now?"
Lilinet turned her head. Lete's forehead and both cheeks were flushed bright red, beads of cold sweat were streaming down, and she was breathing shallowly.
Lilinet placed a hand on Lete's forehead.
"Waaah! Your forehead is burning hot! Are you really okay?"
"I'm fine."
Lete replied with difficulty, moving her feet.
"You don't seem fine at all! Did you eat something bad? Or maybe you caught some disease in the Neutral Zone. Should I cast a Cure spell on you?"
"...That's not it."
"I'll support you."
"I said I'm fine."
While the two were bickering, before they knew it, the line had shortened completely, and it was their turn.
The two of them passed through the Gate of Holiness together with the other Efnelle students and returned to the Holy Federation.
"?!"
And the moment they stepped through the gate, a shocking sight unfolded.
A group of soldiers, armed with swords, shields, and full plate armor, stood waiting right in front of them.
'Pa… Paladins?'
The sudden appearance of fully armed troops made even the other Efnelle students roll their eyes in confusion.
"Student Lete Chardena."
Among them, a man in particularly ornate armor stepped forward.
"You are under suspicion of obstructing official duties of the Holy Federation."
Murmur, murmur, murmur!
The sudden situation threw the Efnelle students into confusion.
"Do you admit to the charge of launching a preemptive attack on Paladins who were carrying out the Federation's orders?"
However, Lete, her face flushed and breathing ragged, wasn't really hearing the words.
The Paladin assumed she was exercising her right to remain silent and scowled.
"No point in wasting time asking here. Take her."
Two Paladins approached with golden chains to bind Lete. She still didn't make any movement, only gasping for breath.
"W–wait a second!"
Lilinet hurriedly stepped in front of Lete, spreading her arms wide.
"She's in no condition to be interrogated right now! Let her recover her health first and then…!"
"You think such a flimsy excuse will work?"
"The order is to bring her immediately. Even if she's an Efnelle student, until she's cleared of suspicion, we have no choice."
Ignoring Lilinet's protest, the Paladins closed in.
"Step aside!"
"I–I absolutely won't move!"
In the end, a Paladin shoved Lilinet's shoulder, knocking her down.
Falling on her backside, sparks lit in Lilinet's eyes.
"Sisters, what are you doing just standing there!"
She turned around and shouted at the top of her lungs.
"Are you just going to sit and watch those punks take Sister Lete away?!"
No sooner had the words left her mouth—
Fwoooosh!
Holiness surged violently from all directions. The Efnelle students around the Gate of Holiness raised their fighting spirit, exerting pressure.
The Paladins approaching Lete flinched and stopped.
"Get lost, right now!"
"Who do you think you are, trying to arrest an Efnelle student?"
"Obstructing official duties? Lete Chardena?"
As the previously quiet students suddenly united and raised their voices, the Paladins began sweating nervously.
"P–please calm down!"
"Her guilt hasn't been confirmed yet, we're just investigating…!"
The students did not back down an inch.
"Get lost, now!"
"Do you realize how pathetic you look, doing this right in front of the Gate of Holiness?"
"Yeah! If you're so confident, come to Heaven Island and take her by proper legal procedure!"
Although Lete often had a cold expression and a habit of resorting to violence, she was still the top first-year student of Efnelle, admired and envied by all.
Above all, her ocean-like vast holy power was an embodiment of faith itself.
For students who felt a sense of belonging to Efnelle, it was only natural not to let outsiders take away the school's best student.
"T–this is obstruction of a lawful investigation!"
"Obstruction? You're committing blasphemy!"
While the Efnelle students and the Paladins stood locked in a tense standoff—
"Move."
A single voice, overwhelming the entire scene, rang out.
A man clad in mithril-forged armor and a blue cape, with at his side a "Drake" — hailed as the finest flying divine beast.
"...An Archpaladin!"
Paladins were, alongside Inquisitors, the core military strength of the Holy Federation.
Among them, an Archpaladin was on a completely different level from ordinary Paladins, to the point where they considered it insulting to share the same title. Only graduates of Efnelle were eligible to become Archpaladins.
In other words, they were the students' direct seniors.
"I said, move."
Kuwaaaaaaaah!
The Drake behind him let out a roar. Whether it had magical effects or not, fear appeared on the students' faces.
At that moment, the Archpaladin strode forward, pushing Lilinet aside, and stood before Lete.
"Looks like being a Saint candidate has made you blind to everything else."
His gaze flickered sharply.
"We'll talk more inside."
Even with the murderous glare aimed straight at her, Lete still wasn't listening.
As if she no longer had the strength to answer, she simply collapsed onto the ground, gasping. Her face and forehead burned like fire, and her breathing grew even harsher.
"...Run… away."
"What?"
Her white hair fell forward, her eyes looking upward.
"I said… run… away!"
Fwooooooooosh!
Suddenly, massive flames erupted from Lete's body. The Archpaladin staggered back, eyes wide in shock.
The fire soared high enough to touch the sky, casting a bright light everywhere.
Before long, her body was completely engulfed in the flames, no longer visible.
"S–Sister Leteeeeee!"
Lilinet reached out with teary eyes, but her fellow students rushed forward to grab her arms.
"Let me go! She's my roommate!"
"If you go, you'll die too!"
No one had expected such a sudden self-immolation from Lete.
While everyone stared blankly at the burning figure, the Archpaladin's lips trembled.
'Don't tell me…'
The flames surrounding Lete began to change color, turning white.
Fwoooosh!
And just like a lie, the flames subsided.
Lete was standing there, her right palm covering her forehead and eyes.
In the heavy silence that followed, the Archpaladin approached with a grim expression, reaching out a hand.
"Hey, are you alrigh—"
At that moment, Lete's voice rang through the air.
[Do not touch me.]
She swung her arm as if to brush away the Paladin's hand. At once, the sky flashed, and a path through the clouds opened.
"W–what is that!"
"Kyaaaaaaaa!"
In the direction she had swung her arm, a comet suddenly descended from the heavens and struck the ground.
Kugugugugugugugugugugu!
A fountain of holiness shot up like the Life Tree.
The tremendous aftershock sent nearby wooden crates and wagons flying through the air. All the surrounding Paladins and students lowered their stances or dropped flat to the ground to endure it.
'Tch!'
The Archpaladin did the same, crouching to endure, then raising his head.
Where the star had fallen now lay a crater so massive it left his mouth agape.
The terrain itself had changed.
'T–the order was to capture her by any means necessary, but like this…!'
In just a matter of minutes, the target had become a being far beyond the reach of any arrest authority.
Clang!
The Archpaladin dropped to one knee before Lete and planted his sword into the ground.
"…Gratula mi Kivilis."
At their leader's action, all the Paladins knelt in unison and proclaimed,
"Gratula mi Kivilis! We greet the daughter closest to the Goddess!!"
It was pandemonium.
The staff who had been conducting inspections at the Gate of Holiness, the merchants, the administrators.
And even the Efnelle students who had been frozen in uncertainty now began to kneel one by one. The Efnelle faculty who had come to handle the situation did the same.
"S–Sister Lete…"
Even her friend, Lilinet, knelt before her. All lowered themselves in reverence.
"We greet the daughter closest to the Goddess!"
Fwoooong!
A breeze swept through.
A ring of holiness formed around Lete, her white hair fluttering, and a cloak of white flame wrapped around her shoulders.
Each time she moved, holiness crackled in bursts.
She brushed her bangs back and looked straight ahead.
In her pupils, faintly, was the pattern of a star.
At last.
As she gazed upon the sight of countless people bowing in worship, Lete realized—
'We now stand on the same line, Simon.'
It was the moment the next owner of the "Essence of Purification" was decided.
* * *
Neutral Zone, the village of "Livito".
There, a man covered head to toe in tattoos was running, panting heavily.
"Damn it! Damn it! Daaamn it!"
He shouted, his voice almost breaking into sobs.
"Please, just stop chasing me!"
From above, Simon was leaping from rooftop to rooftop, rapidly closing the distance between them.
Simon's eyes darted sharply, taking in the surrounding terrain. He spotted a long pole beside a shop roof, with a sign hanging from it. Drawing out Cloud like a rope, he hooked it to the pole and leapt down.
Bwoooong!
Sliding down the rope, Simon landed both feet squarely on the man's back.
"Ugh!"
The man's body flew several meters before tumbling across the ground. Simon landed lightly and approached, slapping cuffs on the man's wrists.
The cleanup of the remnants is nearly finished.
"Simoooon~"
From an alley, Kamibarez came walking over, her face lit with a bright smile.
"Ah, Kami! Did you catch a lo— Huh?!"
Floating behind her were five gang members, each trapped inside a hovering bubble of blood.
She clapped her hands together with a cheerful grin.
"Yes! I caught a whole bunch, Simon!"
During the operation to wipe out the Sentinel Gang, Kamibarez had somehow become the gang's living nightmare.
At the mere sight of her, gang members would seize up in panic, unable to even meet her eyes.
"No saying bad words!"
Hearing something she didn't like, she stretched out her hand, and the blood bubbles began to vibrate rapidly up and down. The gang members writhed in agony, rolling helplessly inside the cramped bubbles.
After silencing the gang members, Kamibarez turned back to Simon with another bright smile.
"These are the ones who bullied Sasha, so I'm going to catch them even harder!"
"…Kami, you're scary when you're mad."
The Sentinel Gang was structured as a network of small cells, so wiping them out all at once was difficult, but after Team 7 joined in, their power had been reduced to the brink of destruction.
All the high-ranking members had been captured and locked away, and only the stragglers remained. Thanks to this, Keyzen's reputation among the people of the Neutral Zone had risen greatly.
Simon handed the gang member he'd caught over to Kamibarez and straightened up.
"Newspapers! Newspapers!"
Just then, he spotted a merchant with an old bag stuffed full of newspapers.
Agent Blark had always made sure to buy one of those newspapers once a day.
Curious about what a Neutral Zone newspaper might be like, Simon paid the merchant a silver coin and purchased one.
"Ah…!"
Simon's eyes widened as he opened the paper.
The emergence of a new Saint had thrown the entire continent into an uproar.
In the photo printed in the paper was a girl with a very familiar face. She was waving to the people, her expression showing clear annoyance.
'So it's you, Lete.'
Simon's gaze moved to the headline of the article.